6 of 10The 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe ditched subtlety in favor of a flamboyant, windswept take on the ship.

Photo by Flickr user AlbinoFlea

7 of 10Not even wings can hide the prow and highly stylized sails on the 1951 Plymouth Cambridge sedan's hood ornament.

Photo by cartype.com

8 of 10This sleek hood ornament, taken from a 1955 Plymouth, still manages to suggest the prow and sails of a ship--albeit only vaguely.

Photo by eBay

9 of 10As trends shifted, the Mayflower became a smaller and smaller component of Plymouth ornamentation. On this 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, a front-end rendering of the ship is dwarfed by massive cathedral taillights.

Photo by Wikipedia

10 of 10Plymouth reincorporated the Mayflower--now looking more like an America's Cup yacht than a square-rigged cargo ship--just in time for the brand's 2001 demise.

Photo by Wikipedia

There aren’t many automakers that can trace their heritage back to the earliest days of colonial America. Plymouth, the low-priced Chrysler offshoot launched in 1928, seems like an obvious candidate—after all, its early marketing materials proclaimed:

“We have named it the Plymouth because this new product of Chrysler engineering and craftsmanship so accurately typifies the endurance and strength, the rugged honesty, the enterprise, the determination of achievement and the freedom from old limitations of that Pilgrim band who were the first American colonists.”

Of course, that’s probably about as far from the truth as Auburn Hills, Mich., is from Plymouth Rock. According to industry insiders, the name was chosen because of its built-in recognition—Plymouth Binder Twine was found in countless rural households.

But even if the origin of the marque’s name was rather prosaic, its historical significance made the sailing vessel Mayflower an obvious choice for its logo. The 17th-century ship appeared on early Plymouth vehicles in a wild variety of forms and styles, from quaint renderings on enamel emblems to rocket-like, art deco chrome hood spears.

By the time Plymouth disappeared in 2001, ostentatious hood ornaments had been out of style for decades; not even a last-ditch logo redesign that reintroduced the Mayflower could save the brand.

Between its parts-bin origins and its badge-engineered final days, however, Plymouth put its name on some compelling cars—from concepts like the 1954 Explorer and 1960 XNR to production vehicles like the 1971 Roadrunner and 1997 Prowler. We’d like to think its early use of the Mayflower as a mascot helped the brand keep sailing forward as long as it did.

So this Thanksgiving, enjoy this gallery of Plymouth-sourced mini-Mayflowers. It’s our way of giving thanks for that golden era when chrome was cheap, automotive stylists were flamboyant and our forefathers were bold enough to launch marques with little more than a bin of parts and a marketing gimmick.

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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